Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Wicklow Sinn Féin councillor John Brady has welcomed the decision taken unanimously by the Bray Municipal District councillors to allow two 1916 Glor na Cásca gardens go ahead as part of the centenary commemorations for the 1916 Rising. It was agreed that a garden would go ahead in the Peoples Park in Bray and second will be on the public green space in the centre of Kilmacanogue, adjacent to the old cemetery.

Speaking after the unanimous decision was taken at Tuesday evening councillor Brady said “Over the last year I’ve been pushing the need to commemorate 1916 in a meaningful way in Wicklow, I believe that the Glor na Cásca project is one good way of ensuring that the community can commemorate the 1916 Rising and all those who declared and fought to defend the Republic during Easter week. At Tuesday evenings council meeting in Bray things have thankfully taken a huge leap forward as agreement was finally reached to allow two 1916 community gardens proceed on publicly owned land in the Bray Municipal District.”

“The gardens will consist of a granite proclamation, Tri-colour and flag pole as well as seven trees to represent each of the signatories of the proclamation. One of the gardens will be located in the Peoples Park in Bray and the second one will be in Kilmacanogue. The Bray garden is right across the road from St. Brigid's Tce, where a number of the Bray volunteers who fought in 1916 came from. Ordinary men and women like Steenie Mulvey, Tom Sutton, Desmond Fitzgerald, Bill Forde and Connie O’Brien to name a few who took on an Empire during Easter week 1916. They are true local heroes and are now rightfully going to be remembered for their actions in declaring the Republic 100 years ago and subsequently fighting to defend it.”

Brady went onto say “The second garden in Kilmac promises to be special as the renowned garden designer Diarmuid Gavin who lives in Kilmac is working with the community 1916 committee who are behind the initiative. The key to these gardens success is getting all the community involved, particularly children, I know the committee in Kilmacanogue is working with the school there to ensure that is the case. I want to commend everyone on the Kilmac committee for their hard work. I also want to thank all the relatives of the volunteers and the District Engineer who has worked on my proposal to move ahead with the Glor na Cásca plans and to get it to this stage. I know there are plans for at least 4 more of these gardens across the County and these should be driven by the community also.”